272. Telegram 10609 From the Embassy in Colombia to the Department of State1
10609. Subject: GOC Expectation of US Narcotics Aid. State for S/NM. Caracas for Ambassador Vance, Luns and DEA.
1. It is clear from a series of conversations with the President, the Foreign Minister and the Minister of Justice that; A) The President believes he was promised substantially increased aid for narcotics interdiction (and specifically helicopters), and as a result the GOC is expectant as to how this will be implemented; B) The need to attend to the narcotics problem is now very much in the minds of the highest levels (presidential and cabinet) of government, partly as a result of the focus given the problem by the presidential visit to Washington; C) The awareness of the need organizationally and procedurally to coordinate the governmental effort in a more effective way is also substantially heightened, and as a result some serious thinking and planning is apparently being given within high GOC circles to the reorganization of the official effort.
2. As a consequence of all this we may in turn expect; A) Some changes in organization and/or delineation of responsibilities which may mean, depending on what happens, that we will have to change our habits of dealing with, and our reflexes and notions about the GOC setup; and B) Requests for additional aid or more likely requests for us to indicate how we are going to provide promised aid. Therefore, Washington should be aware that since we appear to be entering a new phase in our relationship with the GOC on this problem; and since the expectation of, and willingness to receive, more help is greater—and the need and opportunity as well, we may well have to go back to the drawing board on the NCAP, or at least augment our projections. Over the next several weeks we will be trying to define the situation more clearly, and we will be submitting recommendations as we develop them.
3. The most significant conversations were as follows:
A) On Oct 20 the Foreign Minister told the Ambassador that he (the Minister) had been asked by the President to consult the Ambassador on how we proceeded regarding the additional help on narcotics which the President was promised in Washington. The Ambassador said that there were pending ProAgs still unsigned and expressed the hope that these [Page 732] could be moved; that as to the future, it would be useful to examine carefully what the GOC plans and strategy were so that a logical conclusion could be drawn as to what equipment might be needed to implement these; that this made essential the question of what agencies of the GOC were to do what and with whom the President wanted us to deal as to future aid and equipment; and that coordination was particularly important to prevent duplication of effort or equipment requests. The Minister agreed these were important steps and said he was going to coordinate a study of these points. In a subsequent conversation on Oct 30 with the Ambassador and Dept Asst Sec Luers the Minister discussed the point of coordination and organization at length. The pros and cons of various kinds of coordination were discussed. The Minister expressed a preference for the Ministry of Justice as the main focal point and the council on drugs as the main vehicle. He said that next week he would like to organize a lunch with the Ambassador and the Minister of Justice to discuss these matters.
B) During a courtesy visit on the President by the Ambassador and Mr. Luers on Oct 30, the President referred to the narcotics matter, stating that in his second meeting with President Ford in Washington he had been told that the USG had “decided” (sic) to grant Colombia 1.3 million dollars additional aid. When we suggested that this figure corresponds to what we have extended in the past and its citation may have been that, the President said it was specifically couched in future terms as what the US would offer and his son (his note taker) had made notes in that regard. In any case, the President said, the figure was not important; what was important was effective cooperation. (Comment: the President was, I think, quite sincere that the precise figure was not important, and I do not believe he would hold us to that. But he was equally sincere that Colombia wanted more and sizeable help, and that he expects and thinks we offered.) The President mentioned helicopters and said these would be most useful and were required. Some discussion was held on the problem of GOC coordination and organization and with whom technical examination of plans and needs ought to be held, the President indicating he was thinking primarily of the police and DAS and expressing his own confidence in General Matallana as the one to manage most of this. The President said he would give more thought to this question of internal organization.
C) In a conversation with the Minister of Justice on Oct 31, the Ambassador stressed the desirability of proceeding to sign pending ProAgs. The Minister agreed. A long discussion was held on the question of coordination and organization; various devices were discussed, with the ambassador pointing out that there were different dimensions—enforcement action, education and rehabilitation, high-level policy coordination, intelligence collection—all of which had different [Page 733] characteristics which required different forms of cooperation. The Minister indicated he would get back to us after giving these matters further thought.
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Summary: Vaky informed the Department that López believed he had obtained a commitment in Washington for funding to support the interdiction of illegal narcotics.
Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D750381–0814. Confidential; Priority. Repeated to the DEA and Caracas.
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